


Bridges

by karahboou



Category: Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Gentle Kissing, Gentleness
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-18
Updated: 2017-12-18
Packaged: 2019-02-16 13:02:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 853
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13054539
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/karahboou/pseuds/karahboou
Summary: Oneshot. Just some Cullavellan fluff.





	Bridges

She climbed up the ladder to the lofted room, smiling as she saw books stacked on books like precarious pillars holding up a sheet of darkness thick and woolen over the glow of candlelight on his strong features. His brows were knitted, fingers tangled in his hair in the forgotten, half-action habit of sweeping the stubborn half-waves out of his face. He sat on the edge of the bed, in just a simple shirt and breeches, still absorbed in last minute tasks, oblivious to the sound of forlorn wind sweeping in through the hole in the ceiling. He looked smaller, but… more human.

She rocked back on her heels, and smiled with the corners of her mouth pulled up in some inadvertent reflex that remained pleasantly settled on her face. Quietly walking to the window she looked at the sill, smoothed by touch into a darkened lacquer, probably from the pacing after nightmares as he dragged his hands along the wood in agitated contemplation. She was content to watch his lips silently curl around words as he mouthed the report he was reviewing.

“Cullen,” she said, unable to stop the breathy exhale of a laugh carry his name forward, “I’m here to forbid you to work at this hour.”

His eyes snapped up and a warmth that always forced an embarrassed color to rise in her neck and ears spread over his features, “Oh, is that so?” He laid down the report neatly on the floor without taking his eyes off her, standing and folding his arms across his chest.

She crossed over to him, hands clasped behind her back as she lifted to her tiptoes to press a soft kiss to his amused smirk. She loved how his hands would slowly lift and just barely skim the edge of her jaw, almost disbelievingly afraid to touch her. She let him slowly press his palms against her cheeks, fingers tracing the line of her ears where he brushed her hair away from her face. She would clasp her hands together more tightly, letting his touch drift along the line of her shoulder and down her arm. His breath was soft and gentle as he pulled away, opening his eyes with unchecked affection in his gaze. It made her weak, her heart racing in her ears.

“Believe me now?” she smiled.

He sighed, “I just can’t… sleep.”

She felt a swell of sympathy in her chest, bitter in her mouth as she reached up and tucked some stubborn sand-blond locks behind his ear, “Okay. What do you need?”

She watched him search her face and press a light kiss to her forehead before sitting back down on the bed. She joined him, pulling her legs in so she was crosslegged and facing him. Her fingertips found their way to his temples and she rubbed soothing circles as he closed his eyes with a comforted exhale.

“Will you stay here?” he said quietly.

She hesitated for a beat and then reached to take her hands in his, opening up his nervous fists as she traced the lines on his damp palms, refusing to meet his gaze.

Then she looked up and felt a potent rush of affection at his sheepish expression, “Ma nuvenin.”

She expected confusion, or a question. But she watched him study her, considering something. The slight downturn of his mouth and the way his eyes just barely narrowed meant he was concentrating. She was beginning to know him like the strongest whisper of faith, like her favorite memories of wet earth after a fierce storm, like the pulse of magic in her fingertips when her rage tasted like metal on her tongue.

And he surprised her.

“Ma— nu… vehnin?”, he repeated, tripping clumsily on the syllables.

“As you wish,” she translated, feeling a sense of wonder as their gazes locked, then continued, “Sahlin.”

“Sahlin.” as he repeated his eyes seemed to soften, the word coming more naturally and hanging like kindling between them, daring her to reach out.

“Now.“ she promised, her mind reeling, “Mahvir.”

“Mahvir” he said more surely this time, reaching over and tipping her chin up to him as he leaned forward.

“Tomorrow.” she breathed.

His expression clouded with something serious, the intensity made her hands tremble.

She lifted her hands and cradled the sides of his face, brushing her thumbs absently over the apples of his cheeks.

“In ma vhenan, nu vhenan.” she finished letting the words hang like spiderwebs between the branches. She closed her eyes and he pressed gentle kisses to her papery lids, then to the corner of her lips, feeling him mouth the words in fluttering contact that turned the tremble into a shiver.

“You don’t want to know what that means?” She murmured as he pulled away and stared at her strangely.

“I don’t need to speak elvish” he said, she was slightly surprised by the thickness in his voice, “To know what you meant.”

She turned and inched backwards, curling up against him with her back to his chest, “Ma’arlath.”

“Ma’… arlath.” he said deliberately.

She laughed aloud, “I love you too.”

**Author's Note:**

> Most of the elven is translated in text but:
> 
> Ma'arlath- I love you


End file.
